The Mexican government has just
killed a man named Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, who was purported to be
the leader of a powerful Mexican drug cartel. According to the New York Times,
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency congratulated the Mexican government
on a “victory in their sustained efforts to dismantle the drug cartels
by targeting the highest levels of cartel leadership.”

It would be difficult to imagine a bigger inanity than that particular statement from the DEA.

After all, during the past several
decades how many times have we heard similar announcements from the DEA?
Lots of times! Too many to count, in fact.

Recall all the hype about the Medellin Cartel. That was the drug-war cartel de jour
during the 1990s. Amidst much fanfare, publicity, and hype, the DEA and
the Colombian government targeted that particular cartel, along with
its leaders Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder.

Well, guess what happened. The DEA
and the Colombians destroyed the Medellin Cartel, either by imprisoning
or killing its leaders. Escobar, who was called the “world’s greatest
outlaw,” was killed and Lehder is now jailed in a U.S. penitentiary.

So, what do you think happened then?
Was the drug war over? Of course not. The Medellin Cartel was simply
replaced by new cartels, new suppliers, new drug lords, new drug
dealers.

It was no different with the Cali
Cartel, which the DEA was targeting in the 1990s. Go back and read the
statements issued by the DEA when six out of the seven cartel leaders
were arrested in 1995, and you’ll see that they were as inane as the one
they just issued on current Mexico cartel leader Coronel.

The drug war is a never-ending war.
That’s what everyone needs to realize. It will never have a final
victory to it. As long as it is waged, it will be waged forever. It’s
all just an endless process of arresting, killing, and congratulating.

The whole process is a big bonanza
not just for the drug dealers but also for the DEA bureaucracy and the
Mexican drug-war bureaucracy. It keeps these people permanently
employed. Never mind that nothing ever changes. Drug lords are jailed or
killed. DEA agents spend their lives issuing inane statements of
congratulations and then retire on their fat federal pensions. Like the
Energizer Bunny, the drug war just keeps going and going and going.

Let’s face it: there are three
primary groups benefiting from the drug war: the DEA and other drug-war
law enforcement officials, the drug lords, and the countless public
officials who are on the drug-war take. All three groups know that if
drugs were legalized, all three groups would be out of business
immediately.

There really isn’t any other argument
in favor of the drug war, other than that it protects jobs and bribes.
For years, drug-war proponents have cried, “The problem is that they’re
just not cracking down fiercely enough!” Those laments have also been
inane because the fact was that they were cracking down, with such
things as mandatory minimum sentences, asset forfeiture, illegal
searches and seizures, planting of drugs on suspects, violations of
financial privacy, military invasions, and more.

No one can honestly claim that the
Mexican government hasn’t cracked down. It has done so big time, even to
the point of using its military forces.

And what has been the result of the
Mexican crackdown? Death, destruction, violation of civil liberties, and
increased governmental corruption! Imagine: 23,000 deaths in just the
past few years! And there’s no end in sight.

The drug war has converted Mexico
into an absolute disaster. American tourists are staying away from the
border towns, which used to be tourist Meccas. And it’s all because of
the Mexican government’s drug-war crackdown, the crackdown that the DEA
thinks is great.

There is only one way to get rid of
the drug cartels. Let me repeat that: One way only. It lies not in
drug-war crackdowns or in the jailing or killing of drug lords. The
reason is simple: drug lords who are jailed or killed are immediately
replaced with new drug lords. It’s called the law of supply and demand.

The way to get rid of drug lords is
simply to legalize drugs. If the drug war were ended today with drug
legalization, the drug lords would be out of business tomorrow, if not
sooner. Of course, when that day comes, don’t expect any congratulatory
statements coming from the DEA because it will be out of business too.

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